The Faculty Association have certified as a union and members of CUPE Local 3799 would be obligated to honour job action undertaken. Job action can take many forms: the Faculty Association may decide to “work to rule” and only undertake the basic duties necessary to perform the duties of their job; on the other hand, the Faculty may decide to go to a one day strike, rotating strikes, or go to the extreme with a full out strike. CUPE 3799 will honour any and all job action. If a picket line is established by the Faculty Association – do not cross it.

How long will job action continue??

This job action is not in CUPE 3799’s hands or within our control; job action activities and what lies ahead sits with management and the Faculty Association alone. The bargaining committee and the executive are going to continue to inform the membership as we get any new information.

What about strike pay – We aren’t the ones on strike??

Strike pay information has been posted on the CUPE Local 3799 website: www.cupe3799.ca. CUPE BC will start to pay strike pay on the 3rd consecutive day of job action; CUPE National will kick in on the 10th day of consecutive job action.

Who’s going to tell if I should go to work or not?? – Are we going to work or walking a picket line with Faculty??

Updates will be posted on our www.cupe3799.ca website. Once the Executive know anything concrete, it will be posted online for your information. In order to receive strike pay our members will have to participate in meaningful strike action. For most of us this will mean spending 4 hours per day on the picket line in support of the faculty.

What’s an Essential Services Order and Who is on the order??

Essential Service Orders have already been forwarded to the Labour Relations Board and accepted. Basically, the Local’s Essential Service Order is based on what was prepared the last round of bargaining, and the round before, etc. The Essential Service Order is not based on people – it is based on positions “Essential services are those related to the health, safety or the welfare of British Columbia residents, or to the provision of primary or secondary educational programs ” – they are not randomly selected and those assigned in positions that have multiple co-workers are not randomly assigned either. In the event of job action by Faculty or CUPE Local 3799, those on the Essential Service Order will be contacted and advised of work through CUPE 3799. The employer does not contact the person in the position, it is up to CUPE to verify those that should be allowed to cross the picket line. Please check with the CUPE picket captain onsite, if required, before crossing the picket line. Essential Service Order assignments will be based on seniority and will rotate.

Essential Service Orders have two different statuses: on call as required and with time allotted to the position that is deemed essential. Positions on call will be routed through the Local and assigned accordingly. For those that are required to be on campus for a given span of time, CUPE will be contacting you. If you have not been contacted by CUPE 3799 and told that you are an Essential Service, please do not report for work.

What about crossing the picket line if it’s not CUPE 3799 on strike??

Members of CUPE Local 3799 shall honour the picket line, it is not up to individual members to decide if they cross the line or they don’t. It is acknowledged that this job action is not benefiting CUPE Local 3799’s efforts to achieve a signed collective agreement but it is achieving our new Brother/Sister union in achieving a signed and ratified collective agreement. Together we can achieve great things that benefit both units; separated, we can achieve nothing.

Can I work from home and still get paid??

No, if you are working from home, you would still be working for the employer during a job action.

Where do we stand with our own bargaining??

CUPE Local 3799 have been in bargaining and making strides, this will be discussed at our monthly general membership meeting this upcoming Wednesday, February 25th along with elections of officers. The Local will continue bargaining and have dates scheduled to meet with the employer with an eye to reaching agreement in a timely manner (especially given the last round of bargaining). The Faculty Association would honour our negotiations and any possible job actions moving forward.

Faculty & Access to Information:

Many have asked the same question – “why don’t we (the membership) know more about what’s going on with Faculty bargaining??” Bargaining between parties is confidential. I have met with the Faculty Association on several occasions and the information is always changing with nothing concrete that I can pass on to the CUPE membership. As President, I will convey information as it becomes confirmed but I won’t convey assumptions or speculations.

Compensation gains for Faculty job action within our own negotiations??

Can we negotiate compensation gains within our current bargaining to offset wage loss from Faculty job action? At this point, this is an unknown as many things come into play.

I am committed to keeping the membership informed of factual information as it becomes known.

Please plan on attending our monthly general membership meeting this Wednesday, February 25th from noon to 1:00 p.m. in the Senate Chambers.